Today’s guest picture was taken by my brother when he and his wife arrived in Dresden. As he remarks, it is a horseless carriage….or landau in this case.
The weather continued warm and humid today and I got up ready to pedal but took a great deal of time actually to get into a pedalling state. When I did go out, I had a leisurely tour through the countryside for a slightly longer distance than my usual morning ride. There was a much needed cooling breeze which helped on the way home. I am feeling a bit tired at the moment so although I had Pocketcam with me, I didn’t feel like doing the stopping and starting which is needed to take pictures and the ride went unrecorded.
Mrs Tootlepedal had unsurprisingly been busy in the garden while I was out and has completed the relaying of the path to the front lawn. It looks very neat.
The cobbles are worthy of a stage of the Tour de France.
I had a look at the flowers as usual.
The garden is still full of roses.
Sandy had been visiting the Moorland feeders while I was cycling and he got in touch to say that he had seen a family of jays up there so after lunch we cycled up to the feeders to see if they were still about.
As we sat down, three jays flew away and that was the last that we saw of them. We could see a fine orchid just in front of the hide….
…and when I went out to snap it, I could see a bird’s eye view of Sandy.
We sat there for quite a time, cooking gently in the heat, without seeing anything near enough to photograph more interesting than a great tit and a pheasant….
….a very fleeting visit from a woodpecker….
….and a welcome sighting of a robin on one of the tables.
Things were so slow that I ended up taking a picture of some rosebay willowherb next to where I was sitting…
…and in the end the most interesting thing was a moth resting on my back bicycle bag.
It was very happy there and didn’t leave until I had cycled about 300m of the way home.
We got home just in time to see the very last moments of an exciting stage of the Tour de France and noted that it was raining again in France. As if in sympathy, it started to rain here too and that, combined with a burst of tiredness, brought my activities for the day to an end.
A good rest gave me just enough energy to make jam out of the strawberries that we picked on our way back from Newcastle Airport on Thursday but there was enough tiredness about to ensure that I made a bit of a mess of things and only time will tell if the jam is edible. It certainly wouldn’t win any prizes in a jam show.
It was the day of the first ride out by the cornet and his mounted followers in connection with our forthcoming Common Riding and it was my intention to go up on to the hill to watch them coming home in the evening but the gloomy weather and tired legs made that an unattractive proposition and the jam took precedence.
I did manage (just about) to get a flying siskin shot in the gloom as I was preparing the strawberries for cooking.
Tootlepedal's Blog 
Nice pictures Tom! 🙂
You are unfailing polite HJ.
Really lovely pix! Thank you.
Thank you for visiting and taking the time to comment.
That’s a great looking path. I like the idea of bordering it with stones instead of laying them in the path itself.
That’s a cute robin and a beautiful orchid!
We are of an age when a cobbled path is inadvisable.
Mrs. T did a fine job on the path, as you did with the photos!
She is a hard worker.
Lovely pictures at the bird feeder especially the orchid. Hope the tiredness has worn off today with cooler weather.
Very impressed by Mrs Tootlepedal’s path. It is always a pleasure to see a robin or two. Attractive shot of the siskin landing.
I was amused by your bird’s-eye view of Sandy. Flowers and path looking very good and nice to see a young woodpecker too. The moth looks like a Brocade but I’m not at all sure which one out of the many there are.
I wasn’t able to get a very good shot of it which doesn’t help.
The garden looks like a piece of heaven on earth. Hope you are feeling more energetic today.
The tiredness comes and goes and though I feel it is the end of the world when it hits me, it isn’t.
I like the mid-landing shot! Mrs. T, your path looks wonderful – worth every bit of the hard labour it must have taken to put it in place. It certainly draws you into the garden.
She is pleased with her path and so am I.